Vast Liberation

As I begin to type this entry, I am in the midst of an intensive retreat at the Ordinary Mind Zendo in Austin, Texas [ordinarymindaustin@googlegroups.com], This afternoon we took a break from sitting and gathered in a period of group inquiry. I began this period with a reflection - a story I heard from my ordination teacher, Zenkei Blanche Hartman, former Abbott of the San Francisco Zen Center. As we were sewing robes for priest ordination one day, she told me about her sewing teacher Joshin-san, a delightful and very dedicated woman who carried forth a very particular sewing style used in the preparation of Soto Zen priestly garments. The kesa is the most formal of the robes - a patchwork garment like the one supposedly worn by the Buddha and his monks, made originally from old discarded cloth gathered at the village dump or shards of wrapping left behind at cremation sites. Today we simply cut up perfectly good cloth and sew it back together in a prescribed manner handed down through the generations. Over these centuries, some of the ceremonial robes, especially in China and Japan, were quite elaborate and beautiful, made of the best silks and embroidery. Apparently, a Japanese gentleman had a stunning collection of these antique robes and had preserved them at great expense. As a master of sewing the kesa, Joshin-san was taken one day to view this collection. Rather than being awed by the brilliant pieces, she was horrified. Blanche said that apparently she said something like, “Every robe is the complete body of the Buddha. Why would you want to have more than one?” Her devotional understanding of what these robes represented was vast and deep. We may not understand this particular sentiment, and most of us do not wear these formal robes, but nonetheless we still recite the “robe chant” as part of our ritual of remembering what it is like to step into the container of an intensive retreat. We may not wrap ourselves in the literal cloth, but we do wrap ourselves in the tradition. Here is one translation of the traditional chant: Vast is the robe of liberation, A formless field of benefaction; Wearing the universal teaching, I realize the one true nature, Thus harmonizing all being. “Vast is the robe of liberation.” What is vast is liberation – not suffering. What we step into and wrap ourselves in is this vast reality, “A formless field of benefaction.” Without form and substance, and yet pervading everything and everyone, we can begin to awaken in and as this buoyant beneficence. Can we really begin with this realization, that liberation is a vast gift? At the beginning of the precepts ceremony in Soto Zen there is a completely revolutionary statement that reflects this same reality. It is often either simply overlooked or misunderstood. It says, “In faith that we are Buddha, we enter Buddha’s Way.” The entry into the Way of freedom is faith that we are already Buddha? This is the starting point? Most often people suppose that we enter Buddha’s way in order to practice so that one day we, too, will be a Buddha. However, the actual statement of our ancestors is clear: “in faith that we are Buddha, we enter Buddha’s Way.” This is the starting place. Here the way unfolds. “Vast is the robe of liberation, a formless field of benefaction.” The chant goes further to suggest that as we try on these teachings and begin to resonate with them, we recognize that they are not distant goals to achieve or theologies to believe in. The teachings are descriptions of who and what we truly are. “Wearing the universal teachings, I realize the one true nature.” I love the physical metaphor of “trying on.” We wear the teachings. We put them on. We embody them. It does not say, “Understanding the universal teachings,” it says, “Wearing the universal teachings.” There is a profound difference between these two messages. The difference points to the difference between a personal gain of the ego and something beneficial to all beings. “Harmonizing all being,” does not mean that we make our way through the world harmonizing by our individual, personal efforts. It suggests that we can actually become harmony. Once again, it is not something we can do. The personal ego cannot harmonize all being. However, as the individual self relaxes as the center of activity, harmony begins to move simply and easily as our natural state. This is who we are